Latest Stories

Regional Roundup

Regional Roundup: Chicago aims to be space travel hub

In this week’s roundup of watercooler talk from the region’s startup hubs, we have the dish on one Chicagoan’s plan to make the city a hub for space travel, St. Louis’ booming innovation district and the update on Uber and Lyft’s Texas battle. Check out more in this series here. ChicagoInno: Chicago … a hub…

Events Preview: BetaBlox Demo Day

There are a boatload of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter or curious Kansas Citian, we’d recommend these upcoming events for you. WEEKLY EVENT PREVIEW   KCedu and Lean Lab Meetup When: June 16 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Where: EduHub Join us as KCedu and…

Startup life families

Startup life and marriage: A spouse’s perspective

Editor’s Note: Dan and Gina Schmidt agreed to share their experience of how startup life has changed their relationship and family. This is Gina’s perspective; see Dan’s here. Opinions expressed this commentary are the author’s alone. A little over six years ago, my husband, Dan, approached me with a business idea. “Emerging Business CFO. That’s…

The Lean Lab

New batch of techies, educators to revamp learning with Lean Lab

After recently announcing it would award $100,000 for education startups, the Lean Lab on Thursday unveiled the five entrepreneur teams that represent its third cohort. The non-profit for the first time opened its fellowship program to accept international teams, reaping it more than 50 applications — some from as far as Iran and Bulgaria, said…

Nerdery

The Nerdery launches hiring spree at KC office

Nerds abound in Kansas City. Or at least the Nerdery’s local expansion seems to indicate as much. The software design and development firm has added 14 staffers in the last 18 months and is now launching another hiring spree. The Minneapolis-based firm — which opened a Kansas City office in late 2014 — plans to…

Kansas City Developers Conference cultivates community among techies

Hundreds of hardcore techies are gearing up for one of Kansas City’s largest gatherings of developers. The eighth-annual Kansas City Developers Conference is expecting more than 1,300 attendees from regional corporations, startups and universities on June 22. With a focus on building the Kansas City community, the conference features loads of workshops, panel discussions and…

startup families

Startup life and your marriage: Dan Schmidt dives in

Editor’s Note: Dan and Gina Schmidt agreed to share their experience of how startup life has changed their relationship and family. Check in Thursday to hear Gina’s perspective. Opinions expressed this commentary are the author’s alone.   Being a husband, father and founder has stretched me in ways I never would have imagined.   At…

From Slavic studies to coding, LaunchCode helps Kansas Citian find new career

It’s been in Kansas City only four months, but LaunchCode is already making an impact. The St. Louis-based non-profit organization arrived in February to grow Kansas City’s tech sector by organically building its pool of talent. LaunchCode helps educate locals with an interest in changing careers to work in tech, and then connects them with…

Jeff Blackwood Pathfinder Health

CEO: Kansas’ politics pushed Pathfinder Innovations into Missouri

Destructive economic and social policies in Kansas compelled Pathfinder Health Innovations’ move to the Show Me State, its founder wrote in a blog post critical of state leaders. A tech service provider for people with autism, Pathfinder received tax incentives for its border hop to Missouri but Pathfinder CEO Jeff Blackwood said the move also…

WonderWe faith-based crowdfunding

WonderWe launches faith-based crowdfunding platform

Kansas City-based software startup WonderWe hopes to tap a specific market for its new faith-based crowdfunding platform. Launched in early June, WonderWe combines faith-based values, the latest in crowdfunding tech and new proprietary features to “be one of the leading names” in crowdfunding, said Dominic Ismert, founder of WonderWe. The platform currently accepts fundraisers for…